The birthday girl!

Last weekend saw my baby turn 12!!!

 

12 years old!

The birthday girl

We love cupcakes so these one direction cakes were my girly's request

 This year Lutaaya asked for a 'Harry from One Direction Cake'.  I took on the challenge this year and decided we would make this years birthday cake.  Not bad if I say so myself and it tasted delicious!

Happy birthday gorgeous girl xxx

Quite an impressive candle added to our cake, although I did think it took my hand off as it lit

 

The birthday party request this year - bowling with friends and then a sleepover!

 

 

 

This girly loves company, so any excuse for a houseful and she's there!  She LOVED every second of having 5 friends stay the night.  The overall birthday being described as 'perfect'! 

 

Thank you to everyone for her gifts, cards and kind wishes. 

A New Arrival!

We’ve been in preparation the past few weeks as my friend was expecting her second baby.  We were on call for her 2 year old daughter, if anything happened and she needed to speed to the hospital.

This new baby had other ideas, and didn’t come of her own accord but needed a little help from the hospital.  This meant we could be even more prepared for looking after their first little Miss.  So all little Miss’ belongings arrived at our house on Sunday and my friend went into hospital on the Monday morning to be induced.

Our job – Collect Lil’ Miss from nursery and care for her until Mammy came home from hospital. 



Best friends having a cuddle at the start of the day!



My friend was in hospital for two nights, with baby number 2 arriving late on 30^th April. 

Welcoming the new little addition – baby Eleanor.

We went to visit and Lutaaya doted on her.  I wasn’t sure she would like a small newborn, but once she had tried holding her and knew how to support her head, she just wouldn’t put her down.  No chance of me getting any cuddles, I can tell you.

I forget how much care Lutaaya gave to the younger children and babies at the home she grew up in.  I know she misses it madly and loves being with younger children.  She gets them, and they get her.  Seeing her with the baby made me appreciate all her strengths.  She is caring and loving.  She is a protector.  She accepts challenges and deals with any situation as best she can.  She is eager to learn new things. 

The sweetest cuddle photo ever!

Lutaaya refers to my friend as her Auntie, so her daughters are Lutaaya’s cousins. 

We don’t need a blood link to be family. 

We are family. 

I can’t wait to see how much fun these three girls get to have together in the years to come.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas..................

And yes it is!

I remember last year, that I really felt I had missed out on all the festivities in the run up to Christmas.  After all, this time last year, we were still stranded in Uganda, waiting on Lutaaya’s VISA.

It brought back so many memories reading Bethany’s blog last week.  She was reminiscing about Thanksgiving.  In the midst of our chaos, we shared such a special day and it really did feel like we were with family.  I reminded Lutaaya of our day last year and how we took popcorn to Jaydn’s apartment as a gift to them to remind them of home.  We just had to break out the popcorn this year, as a new tradition!  These Welshies are having Thanksgiving!

And the festivities grew over the weekend.  Our town lights were switched on for Christmas.  We were able to take part in having a festive stall outside Mum’s shop. 

The weather has turned colder so there is that extra feeling of Christmas in the air!  We all wait in anticipation of the snow!  I remember seeing photos of home last year and finding it hard to believe how much snow had fallen! 

So as a late Thanksgiving blog I wanted to say how thankful I am for family, both near and far, who have come into my life through birth, adoption or friendship. 

Let’s join in the Christmas spirit and share more magical moments at this special time of year.

God moments or coincidence?

Whatever you call them, they've been there!  All the way through our adoption journey.

It has amazed me how many ‘adoption related’ people God has brought into my life since starting the adoption process a few years ago.  I don’t mean people who supported me in the adoption or social workers, solicitors, etc, but those who have either adopted or are in the process of doing so.

He made sure they were the

Right people

At the right time

In the right place.

I knew of some couples locally who had adopted from Lutaaya’s former home.  The Rileys  were a blessing all the way through my process, as they were able to point me in the right direction after being there, doing it and getting the T shirt.  Little did I know that when I started the UK side of the adoption God was moving mountains for the Rileys’s to live in Uganda.  So when I went to court, Mark and Keren had moved continents and were right there the whole time I was in Uganda.

During my stay in Uganda we were blessed with meeting some of the families who were adopting Lutaaya’s friends, making a special friendship with the Gaddis family. 

I mean, how cool was it, that we ate at the same restaurant, on the same night as Joyce and Jaydn’s new parents? 

Pretty Cool! 

Sure amazing!

We could have eaten anywhere in the city that night.

We could have gone for food later or earlier.

Only God could have timed our meeting, so that our sweet girls, will always have those memories to cherish, and us parents, will always have the link of support and friendship.

Only God.

Even the stay at our guest house opened up a wave of opportunities and new people.  There I met Deb with her two little darlings.  And not forgetting Grandma!  In a small gesture of simply sitting and talking with me, they gave me the courage to keep fighting for Lutaaya and now I love to read their blog and hear what’s happening that side of the world with Little Seth and Leah, (who by the way needs prayers at the moment - details here.  Let’s get this precious girl free from HIV!)

Like I said - Only God.

On arriving at Adonai Guest house, a charming little fella met us at the door and helped carry our bags.  Initially I thought he must be one of the children at the guest house, but we later found out that he was in fact being adopted himself and his Mamma was staying at the guest house too.  I never got to know his Mum’s name but he sure did fill the short time we were there with giggles and fun.  Amazingly, his Mam, Tammy, managed to track me down via facebook, months after we returned home, and we can now keep in touch.  Great news in that even though Nathan and Lutaaya never met, they’ll have so much in common, and we as Mum’s of older adopted children can share stories.

Wow - only God.

Then there was Stacey, with little Benjamin and Sadie.  Oh how did they fill our days with friendship and laughter.  We loved looking after Benja when Stacey had her hands full.  And looking back they were such a blessing, as they entertained Lutaaya and kept her from not missing the children at the home.  Stacey also linked me with a Ugandan facebook page for adoptive parents.  I have been ever grateful for this link.

Through Stacey we managed to meet Melissa.  A one off meeting while we were in Uganda but I became hooked on reading Melissa’s blog.  We prayed her baby Mercy home.  And only God could answer.  And Oh How He did!  So thankful they are now home and finally a forever family together.  Through this link, our local church has managed to send £200 to Melissa’s appeal for the Oasis children’s home.  Thank you to everyone who gave so generously.

In reading Melissa’s blog more I realised she had visited a detention centre that broke my heart during my first two visits to Uganda.  Somewhere I often think about.  Somewhere that was difficult for me to deal with or to understand. 

Only God could have made me meet Melissa, and read her blog, so that I got these very needed updates on the detention centre.

Only God could have brought all these wonderful people into my life.

At the right place.

At the right time.

All the time the path has been paved ahead of me to follow and meet new people on their journey’s that also interlock with my own.  And there are many more to those mentioned, that you can see links too on my blog page.

‘In all your ways acknowledge him, and He will make your paths smooth.’ 

Proverbs 3: 6